An interview with Matt Pocock, creator of the popular 'AI Skills for Real Engineers' project, about his new /wayfinder skill for AI coding agents. Wayfinder is designed for greenfield or ambiguous projects where the end state isn't clear from the start, using a 'fog of war' metaphor: decisions unlock further exploration rather than requiring a full upfront plan. The skill separates planning into distinct artifacts - a 'map' (accumulated decisions), 'tickets' (specific tasks of types grilling, prototype, research, and task), and 'sessions' - with an orchestrator layer managing handoffs between planning threads so the human doesn't have to track context window usage manually. Pocock emphasizes that precise, consistent terminology ('leading words') is essential for guiding agent behavior, and describes building a broader AI coding terminology dictionary to unify language across his courses and skills. He contrasts wayfinder with his simpler 'grill me' skill, recommending grill me for small, well-understood features and wayfinder for ambiguous, exploratory work.
Questions this post answers
What is the /wayfinder skill for AI coding agents and when should I use it?
/wayfinder is a skill created by Matt Pocock for planning projects where the end state is not fully clear at the outset, described as navigating the 'fog of war.' It splits planning into a 'map' (accumulated decisions), 'tickets' (grilling, prototype, research, and task types), and 'sessions,' with an orchestrator handling handoffs between planning threads so decisions progressively reveal what to plan next. Explore more agent workflow patterns like this one by following AI coding tool coverage on daily.dev.
What is the difference between the grill-me skill and the wayfinder skill in Matt Pocock's AI skills project?
Grill me is meant for cases where the whole task can be planned in a single session and you just need to align with the agent before starting, suitable for most small, well-understood features. Wayfinder is for situations where the path ahead is unclear, letting decisions made along the way progressively reveal further steps rather than requiring a complete upfront plan. Compare agent planning approaches like grill-me versus wayfinder through daily.dev's coverage of AI coding practices.